F5, Inc. $FFIV Shares Bought by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management increased its F5 stake 11.1% in the third quarter, adding 44,622 shares to own 444,866 shares valued at about $198 million. Institutional investors hold 90.66% of F5.
• F5 beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting EPS of $4.42 and revenue of $917.4 million, up 13.2% year over year. Its board also authorized a $1.5 billion share-repurchase program.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: F5 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $443, with four Buy, seven Hold, and one Sell rating.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Free Report) by 11.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 444,866 shares of the network technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 44,622 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.79% of F5 worth $197,979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of F5 in the second quarter worth approximately $70,355,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in F5 during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,611,637,000. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in F5 during the second quarter valued at approximately $14,596,000. Amundi increased its holdings in F5 by 96.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 555,809 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $231,194,000 after buying an additional 272,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 14.6% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,144 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $9,211,000 after buying an additional 2,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of F5 from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $500.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research lowered F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $443.00.

Key F5 News

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: F5’s board authorized a $1.5 billion share-repurchase program, which could support demand for shares. The company also recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue up 13.2% year over year.
• Neutral Sentiment: An article noted recent options-market activity in FFIV but did not specify whether trading was bullish or bearish, so its significance is unclear. Do Options Traders Know Something About F5 Stock We Don't?
• Negative Sentiment: Seven F5 executives and insiders sold roughly $7.2 million in shares in transactions dated November 3–4, including the CFO, CTOs and EVPs. The sales could create near-term concern, though they were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, which can reduce their significance as a signal about executives’ views of the company. Insider Selling: F5 CFO Sells Shares

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Chad Whalen sold 6,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.56, for a total transaction of $2,290,442.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,392,904.52. This represents a 21.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CTO Kunal Anand sold 1,989 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.06, for a total transaction of $644,555.34. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 14,578 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,724,146.68. The trade was a 12.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,478 shares of company stock valued at $9,077,136 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.48% of the company's stock.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $310.84 on Monday. F5, Inc. has a 12 month low of $223.76 and a 12 month high of $483.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $17.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.07. The stock's 50 day moving average is $421.67 and its 200 day moving average is $364.03.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The network technology company reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.26 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $917.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.03 million. F5 had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 21.00%. The company's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.39 EPS. Research analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 14.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, October 27th that allows the company to buy back $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

About F5

F5, Inc provides application delivery and security solutions that help organizations manage, protect and optimize applications across data centers, public clouds and edge environments. Its offerings serve businesses, government agencies and service providers around the world.

The company's products and services include BIG-IP application delivery and security software, NGINX technologies for application development and delivery, and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. These offerings support functions such as traffic management, web and API protection, application security and multicloud connectivity.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Seattle, F5 was previously known as F5 Networks before adopting the F5 name in 2021.

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